I did a some wheeling and dealing this weekend and made enough to score this MC2100. It seems MAC tried to preserve the family tube sound in this amp. With a DF of only 11, it is slower than an MC75! The sound is somewhat dry with very little of the MC75's image expansion evident. Interestingly, the MC2100 sold side by side with the MC75 for 1969 and 1970.

Well, it looks pretty at least.

Sam- what were the early "box" SS models? I think I recall them being the 7100 and 7105 (for the meter model)- am I correct?

Where do you stand on them?

I know gushing fans of these, and others who feel they are nothing special, only holding value for brand strength and recognition.

Do you own any Mac tuners? My tech owns one- I think an older ss one- that sounds fantastic. Perhaps the nicest tuner I've yet heard personally.

Thed: This site should answer all your MAC questions:

http://www.roger-russell.com/aboutmc.htm

I believe the MC2100 has the amp section of the MC2105. The MC2100 is built on a modified MC275 chassis and does not have a full case, meters, headphone amp, or power switch found in the MC2105. The MC2100 sold for significantly less than the MC2105.

I've listened to maybe half a CD so I don't have the measure of the MC2100 yet. Interestingly, the MC2100 was sold side by side with the MC75 from 1969 to 1970. I'm going to do a "showroom" comparison to find out why anyone would have picked the MC2100 over the MC75.

No MAC tuners, yet. I was looking at a MR-77 solid state tuner in poor condition for $300 but passed. I'm thinking about a tuner/preamp front end like the MX117 for the MC2100.

Thanks for the link, Sam.

I recently sold a 2100, wasn't in as nice a shape as yours! Might have kept it if I could have found a second one to make a monoblock pair out of. Loved the sound, made my Adcoms sound a bit harsh and grainy by comparison, didn't have near the power or authority, especially on the bottom end, as my Phase Linear PL400 but sounded much cleaner than the PL too as the volume knob got slowly twisted. Weighed a ton, deceptively heavy considering it's not a very large amp dimension wise.

I'm sure the name is much of what keeps the value up on the vintage Macs as do the sexy meters on those that have them. Great amplifiers for sure but acoustically worth their suggested value? I'm not so sure.